The skills crisis in digital industry is not getting better.

We've been running training in more than twenty countries as well as the UK and we're seeing the same patterns of rapid growth in the industry leaving most companies uncomfortably over-stretched.

Without enough of the right people in place firms are placing at risk their online marketing, content and in many cases the whole strategy. It concerned us enough to write up one of our short reports, and for us to include some of the best practice approaches we have seen in structuring digital teams effectively. When a brand extends onto the web they become a publisher whether or not they have a traditional history of content development, and with the massive expansion of web content, these skills are in high demand.

The crisis is holding back the whole industry in most countries, and I thought you might find the notes useful. If you have comments then let me know, and if you are looking for quick training to boost the skills of some of your own team then we've included links to a couple of the 40 courses we developed below.


Danny Meadows-Klue
Founder and Chief Executive
Digital Strategy Consulting

Speed read

• The speed of change has created an exceptional gap in the skills most teams have in digital marketing and publishing, and those they need
• Publishing skills are widely sought after because every firm that creates a website becomes a publisher
• Every discipline in digital publishing builds on the skills needed for success in the classic channels, but demands additional knowledge and skills that can be difficult to acquire and develop
• The immediate nature of the need, and the globalisation of the media channel present additional pressures
• Solving the skills crisis by recruiting in talent often isn't an option
• Structured training programmes can bridge the skills gap, but also build staff retention and stronger team alignment

Challenges in the publishing sector
At the Digital Training Academy, we've been working with teams in 20 countries to bridge the digital skills gap quickly and this article outlines some of the lessons we've heard back from magazine, newspaper and broadcast media teams wrestling with how to get digital channels right, quickly. For each of the four digital publishing disciplines, we've outlined some of the common challenges publishers have described, and a few points of best practice in internet training, online recruitment and digital strategy development.

Best practice in building stronger HR policies
Working with publishing teams from so many countries reveals what does and doesn't work in digital publishing strategies and staffing structures. Every publisher sits in a unique space in their markets and has a unique mix of resources, cultures and corporate ambition. There is no one-size-fits-all model for structuring media businesses that embraces multi-platform distribution, and while many aspire to full integration of web, print and broadcast, for most it proves to be still too early.